Darcy's Christmas Trip
by goldencarnival
Summary: Darcy finds Santa in her living room on Christmas Eve and goes on a trip to the North Pole with an elf named Holly.


Darcy was never allowed to sleep under the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve. "Mustn't see Santa bring all your gifts" her mum would say. So instead, she was tucked in her own bed upstairs under a warm Christmas blanket. Darcy waited patiently in bed until she couldn't hear her mum moving around anymore and snuck out of bed. She tiptoed downstairs quietly. She peeked into the living room and saw the tree light up. It looked like magic. Still no gifts under the tree. Determined to see Santa, she sat on the couch and waited patiently. Not surprisingly she slowly drifted to back to sleep.

*click click clunck*

Darcy stirred.

*clunck swoosh thud*

She peaked an eye open and saw a red blur coming from the fire place. "S-Santa?!" She was suddenly very awake.

The man gave a kind smile and then put a finger over his mouth. "Ssh. Mustn't wake your mum." He pulled a red-velvet sack through the chimney.

"Can I help?" Darcy whispered.

"Oh I suppose I could use a little helper. Come pull the gifts out of the bag." Santa said, unknotting the top so Darcy could pull it open.

She rushed over and stood on the footstool to reach the top of the bag. She tugged on the golden chord and it started to sparkle. She looked nervously at Santa who smiled and nodded. She pulled a bit harder and it sent beautiful little sparks out as it slipped out by itself and rested in Darcy's hand. She peaked her head over the edge of the bag.

"Santa. The bag is empty." She said.

"What? That can't be." Santa looked into the bag. His nose wrinkled in concern. "I must have left your gifts on the work bench. I don't have time, but maybe you can go get them?"

"Go get them? But how will I do that if they're all the way in the North Pole? I don't know the way," Darcy asked.

"Oh, child! Magic." Santa laughed, then gave a little whistle.

*clink swoosh thud*

A little black-haired elf popped from the fire-place dusting soot off her dress. The girl was as tall as Darcy, but fully grown. She had pointed ears peeping out from her hat and silver bells dangling from her collar. "Hullo, Darcy. Happy Christmas. I'm Holly." She curtsied politely.

"Hullo, Holly." Darcy said, giving a little curtsy as well.

"Holly, I think one of the elves forgot to pack Darcy and her mum's gifts this year. Would you bring her back to my workshop and help her find them, please?" Santa asked.

"Of course!" Holly said. She smiled at Darcy, "You'll like Santa's workshop. So many toys and candies!"

Darcy smiled, but then asked, "How will we get there?"

Santa pulled a small little bag out of his pocket. He sprinkled some of the contents on the large bag. It shown brightly for a moment before going back to normal. He handed the little bag to Holly. "There you go. Get on in the gift bag, and you'll be in my workshop. It's very big, Holly will show you the way."

"I know Santa's shop, you'll be safe with me!" Holly said excited.

"Holly," Santa said, "the gifts are in the Mistletoe room next to the stocking stuffers."

"Yes sir!" Holly saluted and turned to Darcy, "Ready? Just follow me!" She jumped into the bag and gave a squeal of delight.

Darcy followed her and realized she was on a slide. She let out a cheer and slid down passed tinsel and candy-cane forests. She could here Holly cheering in front of her. Just a few moments passed and Darcy flew out the bottom of the slide. She plopped on a hug pile of stuffing used for the inside of teddy bears.

Holly was ahead of Darcy and called for her to follow. "We don't have much time. Follow me." Darcy rolled off of the pile and chased after Holly.

They ran through a long hallway that had pictures of elves and reindeer. Each doorway was lined with candy canes. The frosted windows showed a wintery paradise with perfect sledding hills. Darcy stopped for a moment to look at the snow. She laughed when she saw a family of snow people sliding two hills over. Holly stopped and back-tracked.

"Darcy, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Look! They're sledding!" Darcy pointed as a small snow girl started down the hill. "I didn't know they were…"

"..snow people? Of course they are! They eat mistletoe and live in snow forts. If we had time I would take you there. They have skating rinks inside giant igloos and they make the best hot chocolate you've ever had!" Holly said excitedly.

"It sounds wonderful!" Darcy said imagining a cup of hot chocolate as big as her head.

"Maybe you can come back and visit, but now we have to go find your gifts. Do you remember where they were?"

"Um." Darcy thought for a moment, then remembered "the Mistletoe room!"

"Yes! By the stocking stuffers," Holly added, "it's this way!"

They left the window and passed another room that looked like a candy cane forest. Little candy cane were growing on red trees with white leaves. A white river was gentle flowing through and Holly told her it was eggnog. They passed another room where elves were stuffing penguins and polar bear stuffed animals for next Christmas. Then they walked into a hug work room with lots of shelves. The shelves were full of things like juggling balls, boxes of candies, markers, small little cars, unicorn figurines, and dozens of other boxes and barrels covering the floor.

"These are the stocking stuffers," Holly explained, "we're almost there." She pointed to a yellow door right in the middle of the shelves. "That's the mistletoe room."

When they pushed open the door Darcy saw empty tables marked with names and countries. "Santa keeps them organized, and it looks like yours is right over there" Holly pointed at a pile of gifts all the way down at the end of one of the tables.

"My gifts!" Darcy said with delight. She ran down to the end and saw the colorful wrapping paper covering gifts. "Darcy" was written on about half of them and "Darcy's Mum" was written on the others. "Oh thank you!." Darcy gave Holly a big hug.

"But now we have to take them back." Holly said, smiling. "You can't open them until tomorrow morning."

"How do we get all of them home? We can't go back up the slide, can we?" Darcy asked.

"Oh no! Santa gave me his magic bag before we left, remember?"

Darcy nodded, but she still wasn't sure what Holly was talking about.

Holly pulled out the sparkling bag. "Ready?" She asked Darcy, "Hold onto one side of the bag and I'll hold onto the other. Be sure to hold on tight!"

Darcy did as she was told and Holly pulled on her side of the bag. To Darcy's great pleasure the bag grew bigger and bigger until it was large enough to hold all of the gifts. They started to put the gifts in the bag and soon the bag was full to the brim. Holly pulled out a chord and tied the top shut.

"Perfect! Ready to go now? We'll fly back."

"Fly?" Darcy asked.

"Yes! With reindeer, silly." Holly said smiling. She picked up the bag. She explained that the bag made the gifts lighter so it was easier to carry.

They walked out of the Mistletoe room and back passed the elves filling stuff animals. Then they went through large door and walked quickly through the falling snow. They reach another building where more elves were taking care of other reindeer.

"Hello, Oak" Holly said to another elf. "We're on a run for Santa, could we take Jingle out for a flight?"

Oak was a taller elf who had curly blond hair like Darcy's. He smiled, "Hello, you must be Darcy." Oak bowed slightly and Darcy crusted again." Santa called and said you two would be here. Jingle and a sleigh are ready for you to go. And Santa asked me to give you these." Oak pulled out two candy canes from his pocket. One was shaped like a Christmas tree and the other was shaped like present.

"Oh thank you!" Darcy said, "that's very kind."

"We better get into the sleigh we have to ride back before morning." Holly said.

They walked over to the sleigh. Holly stroked Jingle's head and he neighed happily. The sleigh was a beautiful deep green color with gold trip and a red seat big enough for two. Holly put the bag of gifts in the back of the sleigh and hooked on the reins. Jingle pulled the sleigh out of the building into the softly falling snow. Darcy and Holly both got into the sleigh. There was a blanket on the seat that they pulled over their laps and a little tray with two cups of hot chocolate on them. Holly took a cup for herself and gave the other two Darcy "I think the snow people have left us something."

Darcy took a sip and it was the best hot chocolate she had ever tasted. Holly took a sip of her drink and set it on the tray again. She took the reigns and told Darcy to hold on tight. Jingle started to run towards a large hill. He went faster and faster and when they reach the very top of the hill Jingle jumped. They were flying!

Darcy snuggled deep into the blanket and leaned again Holly. The hot chocolate kept her warm.

"You should peak over the edge. It's quite the view. Be careful not to fall." Holly smiled and pointed to the side.

Darcy peaked over the side and saw all the tiny trees. The North Pole was moving quickly behind them. The buildings got smaller and smaller while they rushed home. The sky was dark and the air was cold and clear. She saw thousands of stars in the sky. She tucked her arms into the blanket and started to get sleepy.

"You can sleep. It'll take a while to get there and I'll wake you up before we land so you can see London from the sky." Holly pulled out another blanket for her. Darcy drifted off to sleep under the warm fabric.

Two hours later Holly shook her gently awake "Darcy, we're almost there. Look at London."

Darcy looked over the edge of the sleigh and saw London lite up like a Christmas tree. It looked so festive! She smiled and pointed to Big Ben and then the London eye. She saw the river shine. Then they flew down lower and she saw cars on the road. She could see lights on buildings. The went down lower and lower until they gently hit the top of Darcy's home.

*click click clunck*

"Down the chimney we go!" Holly said pulled the bag of gifts from the back. "You can go first, just jump in and you'll slow down before you hit the bottom. Be sure to brush the shoot from your pjs before you step into the living room."

Darcy obeyed and stepped back into her warm living room. A moment later Holly followed and then the bag of gifts. They both opened the bag and put all the gifts under the tree. When they finished Holly folded the bag and it struck back to it's first size. She put the little bag in her pocket and wiped her hands with saftifcation.

"Perfect. Happy Christmas, Darcy."

"Happy Christmas Holly! Thank you for getting my gifts and taking me to Santa's workshop and given me hot chocolate." Darcy gave Holly a tight hug.

"You're very welcome. Now best get back to bed. The sun is almost up and you mum will come to wake you up soon." Holly said. "Goodbye, maybe I'll see you next year." Holly winked.

"Good-bye!" Darcy gave Holly one more hug before rushing up to bed.

To her surprise when Darcy woke up she was sitting on the couch in the living. Right where she was when she heard Santa laid. She sat up thinking it had all been a dream. The presents were all under the tree, and the stockings where hung up neatly in a row. Then Darcy realized she had something in her pocket. Two candy canes. One looked like a Christmas tree and the other was shaped like a present. She smiled. She knew Santa was real.


End file.
